Monthly Archives: February 2016

chemistry

Thinking again

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index

So for Holly and indeed for anyone else, we revisited the toothpaste.

Revisiting learning and repeating activities and experiences helps us to process the information and deepen our learning.

This time around I focused more on letting the children take the lead and do as much as possible based on their last experience. As this was  a repeat and more child led I didn’t bother with the logbooks.

Luckily we had a few re-visitors who could recall and share their experiences from Friday.

Again I tried to make this as hands on an experience as possible. Luckily the safety rules were firm in the children’s minds.

“Don’t touch the bottles! It’s dangerous!” – Gabriel

Ryan and Gabriel could both remember what we needed to do and what the reaction would be.

“We need the white stuff but it’s burny, and the smelly stuff to make it go up and over. ” – Ryan

So we measured out the yeast and took turns to mix…

And we used those important hand muscles to add the washing up liquid.

And those pincer grips to squeeeeeeeeeeeeeze the yeast quickly into the hydrogen peroxide (the greater the force with which the yeast enters the mixture, the quicker the reaction).

And we weren’t disappointed in the reactions. In fact we did the experiment again and again and again using different colours.

The children grew in confidence with the foam and were able to notice it was hot.

“It’s like lava!”  – Finlay F.

“But it looks like snow” – Adam

We noticed some of the mixtures went slower than others and so with a gloved hand I gave them a shake which really sped them up!

“Woah! Look at mine it’s going fast now!” – Nathan

“It got bigger!” – Elise

We repeated it so often we were left with lots of foam and it was lovely to play with (in fact we only stopped because we ran out of washing up liquid!)

“It’s all gooey looey!” – Finlay F.

And the colours all mixed again.

“This looks like a rainbow” – Ayvah

But Ryan used his knowledge of what we’d made to add to his observation..

“It’s like the elephant has already used all the toothpaste!” – Ryan D.

But the foam was perfect for mark making and writing secret spy messages! Great early writing practice.

The added opportunity to explore the process allowed Gabi to really add to her learning. She was able to explain what had happened to her friends…

“The yeast burned away the peroxide!” – Gabi

So  a revisited experience but more learning all the same!

Sometimes it is worth thinking again.

chemistry

Elephant’s toothpaste in the main building

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tooth-brushing-elephant

After the excitement about the erruptions, explosions and gaseous experiences, I thought it only appropriate to revisit elephant’s toothpaste but this time with the main building children.

We used the same ingredients as last time.

Hydrogen peroxide, yeast, fairy liquid, washing up liquid, dye.
Hydrogen peroxide, yeast, fairy liquid, washing up liquid, dye.

The same safety rules applied..

“No touching the bottles!” – Gabi

However, this time we added a little more of a hands on approach with the children using the droppers to add the yeast. This allows the children a level of responsibility (managing their own, all be it small, risk) which adds a level of engagement and greater involvement in the learning.

We used droppers, a beaker for the yeast mixture and a spoon for measuring and stirring.
We used droppers, a beaker for the yeast mixture and a spoon for measuring and stirring.

There were a number of predictions in which the children applied knowledge gained from previous experiences….

"I predict that its going to right up to the roof and down!"
“I predict that its going to right up to the roof and down!”

“It’s going to besplode!!” – Heidi

"Its gonna overflow!"
“Its gonna overflow!”

Lara even used the correct vocabulary when making her prediction!!

“I predict it’ll go right up to the roof and back down” – Lara

"It'll be fast"
“It’ll be fast”

But first we had to mix the yeast. This offered opportunity for the children to engage with real measure (of a spoonful) and counting  the spoonfuls to add. They also had to take turns to mix the yeast as I deliberately only offered one spoon and one beaker.

“Eeeuurgh it smells like a swamp or a dirty shoe!” – Ryan D.

Then we had to use those important hand muscles to squeeze the washing up liquid to the hydrogen peroxide that I had already poured into bottles.

And so we were ready to add the yeast…

And the results were quite good.

“Ross’s stayed the same but mine BESPLODED!!” – Heidi

"It was really really really foamy!"
“It was really really really foamy!”

So why did it explode? We analysed the experiment..

“It was because we put too much yeast in” – Heidi

"It exploded because it made gas."
“It exploded because it made gas.”
Ross reported and shared what had happened. His remembering and discussing the bubble shows that he was thinking about it.
Ross reported and shared what had happened. His remembering and discussing the bubble shows that he was thinking about it.
"First there was the bottle, then it all overflowed!"
“First there was the bottle, then it all overflowed!” – Ryan

The foam that it created was warm and harmless as the yeast hadwee science me mixed with the hydrogen peroxide, burning all the peroxide away and releasing heat and oxygen which mixed with the washing up liquid to create the foam. Some of the mixtures needed a little help to get going so I gave them a little shake to mix them up and that worked a treat.

And of course the harmless foam was lovely for making patterns and marks (early writing) and exploring the colour mixing (yet more science)!

So what next?

Well Ryan gave us an excellent question to explore..

“What does disolve mean?” – Ryan

But the mixing of the coloured foam revealed another area to explore as the children created new colours.

“Look what colours I can make!” – James

And then I discovered Brandon’s interest in Angry Birds and thought about how we could explore forces further with catapults and towers…….hmmm

But Holly made it clear what we should do on Monday..

“Aww Ailie, I never saw the science today. Can we do it again on Monday?”  – Holly

Well how could I resist? And I just so happen to have bought a stronger concentration of peroxide – I wonder what difference that will make?

Thinking scientist

Why not help me decide what direction to take after Monday? I will of course ask the children but please add your ideas too! Is there an experiment or science area you would like us to explore? Let me know!

In the meantime why not try to recreate some of these chemical reactions at home? You can buy hydrogen peroxide at Sally’s in the town and the yeast is available in the baking section of Tesco. Antibacterial washing up liquid doesn’t work so well so just go for the original kind, bubble bath works also.

Good luck and happy experimenting!

chemistry

Learning from Einstein

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Einstein quote

I saw this as I was eating my breakfast this morning and thought how this totally sums up learning through play. And explains why today we revisited gas.

This morning we looked at gas with the more scientific frame of mind, attempting to create a gas by mixing a liquid and a powder. We caught and measured the gas in the balloons again.

As usual we made and recorded predictions, observations and our thinking about why it happened (training the mind to think!).

Only one person predicted their solution wouldn’t make a gas:

Natalie – “I predict no gas.”

 Everyone else predicted lots of gas would be made.

Innes chose a tablet and vinegar and predicted "a big gas"
Innes chose a tablet and vinegar and predicted “a big gas”
Lucy chose to mix a tablet and bubble bath and predicted "a big bit of gas".
Lucy chose to mix a tablet and bubble bath and predicted “a big bit of gas”.
Pearce chose to mix a tablet and vinegar and predicted "lot's of gas".
Pearce chose to mix a tablet and vinegar and predicted “lot’s of gas”.

In fact Sophia and Olivia selected their ingredients based on their past experience with the science. When asked why they had selected bicarbonate of soda and vinegar,

oooops explosionOlivia  replied: “Because it’s going to get bigger and explode!”

and Sophia said, “Because I want mine to get ginormous!”

So there were a variety of results depending on the combination chosen.

“Oh my gosh Sophia! That is soooo big!”  – Millie

The most interesting however was the bubble bath + effervescent tablet………

Gracie and Bramble were able to apply their previous science learning to their understanding of what had happened…

"We made a potion. It forced up lots and lots of gas and made the balloon bigger and bigger!" - Gracie
“We made a potion. It forced up lots and lots of gas and made the balloon bigger and bigger!” – Gracie
"The balloon goed bigger and bigger 'cause of the experiment gas!"- Bramble
“The balloon goed bigger and bigger ’cause of the experiment gas!”- Bramble

Smart cookies eh?!         3 smart cookies

For the afternoon session I took to heart another Einstein quote……

 Einstein quote play

So we just freely “researched” compounds and mixtures.

We had to use our hand and finger muscles to squeeze the ingredients out of the bottle – this helps us prepare to write!

And the phrases “Oh my gosh!” and “Look at mine!” were heard aplenty when the vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, effervescent tablets and carbonated water began to mix.

We used a huge amount of maths language as we were experimenting – “more” ,”less”, “after”, “next”,” first” ,”higher”, “heavier” ,”lighter” as well as hearning myself model more science vocabulary.

Did you know that the greater a child’s vocabulary before school, the more success they have in school? You can read research suggesting that here and here.

Also did you know that the average person produces gas 14 times a day? (Thought Patrick might like that wee fact!) Why not amuse your family with more fart facts?

I’m sure Einstein would have been very proud!

happy Einstein

 

Don’t forget to share the learning that your child shares at home and leave comments to let me know what you think of the experiments and the blog – especially any ideas or suggestions – Thank you!

chemistry

balloons and gas

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balloonsToday we looked and at and thought about balloons and gas. This was a follow up to Isla’s fab question last time:

beaker potion gas“What is gas?”

So we started with our balloon holding bicarbonate of soda on a bottle containing vinegar. We discussed what happened when we mixed these ingredients on Monday.

“The bottle fell over and it just fizzed a bit” – Alf

So the consensus of prediction was that the bottle would fall over.

The balloon inflated however, much to the children’s delight!

“Arrgh! It’s getting bigger! It’s going to explode!!” – Patrick

The gas inflated the balloon.
The gas inflated the balloon.

We squeezed and shook the balloon and bottle and thought about the bubbles (which were made by the gas) and we decided to investigate – could we make a gas?

“Yes!” – Daniel          “It’ll be like a bomb and explode!” – Patrick

We had bicarbonate of soda, vinegar, effervescent tablets, carbonated water, bubble bath, conditioners, shaving foam, caster and icing sugars.

We discussed safety as usual:

“Wash hands after.” – Innes      “Don’t pop the balloons!” – Alex

“Move if you think it’ll explode!” – Daniel

Again there was disagreement about how long it would take….

“25 hundred” – Daniel              “Just a minute or 2”    – Patrick

"It'll take THIS long"
“It’ll take THIS long”

We mixed various ingredients and had a variety of results:

“It grew bigger and bigger and exploded like a bomb! It was going EVERYWHERE!”  “It was because of the gas” – Patrick

Mine made stripes.
Mine made stripes.

In the afternoon I structured it so that we were much more scientifically looking at the gas first. The children could choose what to mix and predict if it would make a gas to inflate the balloon or not.

"It'll go POP!"
“It’ll go POP!”
"It might melt our eyes!"
“It might melt our eyes!”

It was not good, not enough gas”  – Finn

"I'm scared it'll blow up"
“I’m scared it’ll blow up”

“It was small”- Belle

“It looks like a rocket” – Isla C.

"It just made a little gas."
“It just made a little gas.”

Sophia gave us the quote of the day………

“I am OBSESSED with all this gas! It’s like a hundred billion! It’s amazing!” “How much gas are you making????”

science fair awardOur star scientist award has to go to Fraser though. He was one of the first to join the experiment and nearly the last to leave at the end of the morning. He quickly realised which ingredients gave the best fizzy results and experimented with differing amounts in various containers. FraserHe really focused on developing his learning about chemical reaction and gas! Well done Fraser!super scientist star

Why not have a go at some mad mixing at home to create gases and explosions? Any household and kitchen ingredients could combine33052-clipart-illustration-of-a-shocked-school-girl-conducting-a-chemistry-experiment-while-her-chemicals-explode to make an interesting and possibly smelly concoction! Our fizzy favourites have to be the vinegar+ bicarbonate of soda or the carbonated water + effervescent tablets + bubble bath. Let us know how you get on, share any cool pictures or results.

And remember you can find lots of science ideas on our pinterest page.

 Happy experimenting!

chemistry, physics

Rocket fuel and gas

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rocket taking off

Following our success with our air pressure rocket, and Gracie’s suggestion, we decided to make an attempt to create our own rocket fuel to blast a bottle rocket into the air.

The ingredients for the explosion were the usual bicarbonate of soda and vinegar.rocket fuel ingredients

There were a range of predictions as to what would happen when we mixed the two (The main building children have not yet explored this mixture and so had no prior nursery experience to base these predictions on).

“Yass”[mimes blasting off into the air] “Blast Off!”  – Iona

“It might come down,” -Eilidh

“Blast up” – Natalie

“It’s going to blast into space!” – Lauren

The air's going to make it go up!
The air’s going to make it go up!
It's going to fly in the air!
It’s going to fly in the air!

Brandon even wrote his prediction clearly that it would go..

"Go up"
“Go up”

However some of the children showed a great level of awareness and applied it to their prediction (or maybe they could just smell the vinegar soaked into my clothes!

"I think it's going to make mess everywhere!"
“I think it’s going to make mess everywhere!”

“It’ll mess everywhere” -Amy M.

We discussed ways of staying safe (staying well back, only Ailie was to touch the rocket when the bicarbonate of soda was added).

There was a debate about how long it would take to blast off.

“Fast” – Urban                             “3 minutes”- Lauren

“50 minutes” –  James S.     “4 minutes”- Amy M.

Well there were a range of results. Most of the attempts in the morning resulted in gentle fizzing and the plug gently popping out. Not exactly the blast we had hoped for.

“When we put the first one down it didn’t blast off, it just went EVERYWHERE!” – Gabi

“It fell over and poured out.” – Urban

However we had a couple of explosions!

“It exploded!” – Eilidh

It went all up Ailie's sleeve, and her hair and her glasses!"
It went all up Ailie’s sleeve, and her hair and her glasses!”

“It exploded like a bomb!” – James

Lara's observation

Unfortunately the successful rockets were so fast that we couldn’t get a photograph!

So we reviewed the experiment and came up with some ideas on how to improve….

Alf's review

“We need to fix it!”  – Urban

“Make some things that would keep it on.” – Alf

In the end the most successful attempts were made using the plug that the vinegar bottle came with.

wee science meSo why did it blast off (eventually)?

Well the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda reacted and created a gas. The pressure of the gas expanding in the bottle pushed the plug and gas out of the bottle with great force, pushing the bottle into the air!

Isla – “What is a gas?”Thinking scientist

Hmmmmmm

Now there’s a question!

Well we could capture gas in a balloon to let us think about it.

We had to have a wee look at the static electricity generated by the balloon and the effect it has on our hair.

I think we need to have a wee look at balloons and gas next!

Please remember to leave a wee to comment share the learning!

And why not see if you have better luck than I with the rocket? There are various youtube video tutorials telling you how. Let us know how you get on!

physics, weather

Rockets and rain

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wee sad rain cloudWell the weather didn’t listen to our plea. However, a bit of rain never stops science! It certainly didn’t dampen our spirits any.

Due to the weather we neglected our recording in our log book so this post will just be photos of the experiments themselves. Why not ask your child to share their hypothesis and conclusions with you as you share the blog?

“We need to do it outside!” said Nathan on Wednesday and that is exactly what we did. However this added a new force into the experiment – the wind! And one of the rockets had a difference too.

One of the rockets had gotten damaged and the fins had come off. How would it affect the flight?
One of the rockets had gotten damaged and the fins had come off. How would it affect the flight?

“It’s not going to fly as good.” – Kobe

Most of the rockets flew really high outside. The one without fins flew less well so Kobe was right!

But the force applied by the wind was strong too and we lost one of our rockets altogether (it seemed to disappear. We couldn’t see where it went due to the rain!) And 3 rockets were blown onto the roof!

“We need a ladder!” – Heidi

“It’s not safe for a ladder. You might fall off and have to go to hospital!” – Evie

We decided to leave them for now.

So the rockets flew higher outside when there was no roof to bounce off.  But the wind’s force affected the flight and the landing.

The learning wasn’t restricted to the science though. We were reinforcing sequence and order of number as we counted down to blast off.  We developed our negotiation skills and used mathematical language of sequence and order when discussing who’s turn it would be,

“Can I go first?”  – Evie

“Can I be second then?”  – Bramble

“I’ll be third!” -Elise

“I’ll be next, I’ll be after Elise.” -Jude

We had to listen for information when we discussed the safety procedure (ensuring we were “clear for take off”).  We followed instructions to go to the allocated area of the playground and stay safe inside the playground even when the rockets kept getting blown out on to the street despite the temptation to go and fetch them back. That’s not to mention the abundance of comparative size language – “higher, lower, more force, less force,” even “greater force”and as Jude said….

“I think that was a lesser force Ailie”

Ooooft it was a lot of work and not just physically!

But our next steps?

“Let’s make our own rockets to fly! We could make a new force!”

-Gracie

Hmmm a wee visit to Pinterest over the weekend may be in order.

images (7)

 

Have a great midterm break. Our science will start again on Friday (hopefully all dried out by then 😝).

Thank you for your lovely comments. We love hearing about how you and your children are sharing learning at home. If you have any suggestions for experiments and / or improvements to the blog please get in touch.

physics

Fighting gravity

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gravity learning

Since we have explored gravity and how it effects dropped objects (the same regardless of mass) perhaps we should think about what is needed to escape gravity.

In order to do this we need to consider forces.

So we exerted forces on one another with the hula hoops, staying safe of course!

But something unexpected happened! As Lara recorded on the logbook.

Lara recorded that the large force placed on the hula hoop broke it!
Lara recorded that the large force placed on the hula hoop broke it!

“We were learning about force and I had quite a lot of force (it was about 20 million) and the hula hoop burst right open!

Lara told her friends about what happened using the word "force"!
Lara told her friends about what happened using the word “force”!

 

Then we thought about what kind of forces could be made to opposerocket gravity.  Would it need to be a little force or a big force? What difference would the size of the force make? We explored this with our very own rockets!

 

We were in agreement with our predictions:

Elise: “We’ll need a big force”

"A big force"
“A big force”

Of course we needed to stay safe as always!

“We have to watch – it will fall!”: Caoimhe

“We need to stay on gravity.” Ross M.

“We could go somewhere else.”: Harmony

“We could wear an umbrella on our head”: Isla M.

We went with Ryan D and Gracie’s ideas though.

There was a conversation about the best way to exert the force to make the stomper rocket blast off:

Lara: “You push it like this.”[ Demonstrating with her hands].

Ross M: “No you do it with a foot.”

Caoimhe: “You need to put 2 feet on it – look”  [shows the others the picture on the box].

There was some debate over the length of time the rocket would take to fly…

Harmony: “Oh ages – 100 days”

Ryan D.: “25 years”

Elyse: “22”

Ross M.: “100 minutes”

Isla M.: 1 minute

Caoimhe: “50 minutes”

It was a little faster. (In fact it was so fast that the camera couldn’t catch more than a blur!)

We used some of our numeracy skills to help us prepare for blast off. (Counting down helps children understand the sequence of numbers and is the first steps towards subtraction!)

Charlie realised that if you jumped on to the pump you could apply more force. Natalie took a run and jump to get even greater force. Then Euan worked out that he could jump from the step to use gravity to add force!

So the greater the force, the further the rocket would fly.

“Wow – that was a really big force!”: Eve

“If you went slowly it would go a wee bit low.”: Patrick

“Our force made it go up”: Ross M.

We put our hands over the end of the tube tosee what the force felt like.

“So the air pushes it up and up” : Patrick

Sophie applied such force that the rocket jammed and got stuck in the light! We had to get Roseann to bash it out with a big long pole!

So were our predictions right? YES! yes

 (With one exception….  “It was faster.”: Harmony)

The rocket bashed off the ceiling most times so we don’t know how high it could go if nothing stopped it.  To test that we’ll have to go outside!

(I hope it’s dry on Friday!)

fingers crossed

 

Want to extend the learning at home? Here are some very simple ideas to reinforce you child’s understanding of gravity and forces.

Happy experimenting!

physics

What is gravity and why is it not in space?

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Floating astronaut

 

You may have heard and seen onTwitter that the children in the main building have been learning about space recently. Some of this has been by watching clips of Commander Chris Hadfield in the International Space Station

During these clips we have looked at the effect of being away from most of Earth’s gravity, and how this effects daily routines such as washing etc. So we know that little gravity means things float but what does gravity mean on Earth, where it is stronger, and why is it stronger on Earth?

We set out to explore gravity. We started by experimenting to see if all objects are effected the same way – does everything fall?  Do some things fall faster/ slower?

We  chose our objects and made predictions:

Caoimhe chose to compare the ball and the tiny pom pom. Her prediction was that the ball would hit the ground first.
Caoimhe chose to compare the ball and the tiny pom pom. Her prediction was that the ball would hit the ground first.
Caiomhe predicted the ball would land first because "It is bumpy"
Caiomhe predicted the ball would land first because “It is bumpy”

Patrick discovered that it had to be a fair test and that the objects needed to start from the same height and at the same time. His experiment  had to be redone twice over to ensure a fair test!

Caoimhe recorded that the height would need to stay the same.
Caoimhe recorded that the height would need to stay the same.
He predicted the swing would land first as "It's heavier".
He predicted the swing would land first as “It’s heavier”.

 

We tested our hypothesis.

Frazer chose two different sized pine cones. He predicted they would "go together".
Frazer chose two different sized pine cones. He predicted they would “go together”.
"The 2 balls hit the ground first!"
“The 2 balls hit the ground first!”

 

"They fell together"
“They fell together”

But why don’t you have a look at the predictions and experiments themselves! Look at Holly’s prediction and Ryan’s prediction.

Have a look at Lauren’s experiment, Holly’s experiment, Gaby’s experiment, Amy D’s experiment and the experiments of Finn, Brandon, and An, who goes at 2!

 

So what happened?

Maybe we should ask for Ryan’s conclusions, Lyall’s gravity explanation or Isla’s conclusion.

“they all fall at the same time ’cause of gravity!” Eve

We reviewed our predictions:

"I was wrong"
, “I was wrong”

 

"I'll just do a cross because I was wrong"
“I’ll just do a cross because I was wrong”

Then we looked at hankies – two hankies the same should land at the same time – just as everything else right? Wrong! If one was scrunched up and the other flat, the air resistance made a difference, slowing the flat one.

wee science meSo everything fell at the same speed unless the air drag slowed it down. The air drag acts as an opposing force.

 

 

Hmmmm…………. what else could make an opposing force to gravity?

Thinking scientist

 

 

Want to find out more about gravity? Have a look here or here.

Why not try your own experiments and let us know how you get on!